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NJ: Authorities Release Video Of Suspect In Firebombing Of Rutherford Shul


Law enforcement authorities have released a video of a man they think is responsible for the Jan. 11 firebombing of a Rutherford synagogue.

The surveillance video shows a man leaving a store after buying materials authorities think were used in the fire bombing of Congregation Beth El on Montross Avenue, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said Friday.

“This is a person we are very confident is at least in part responsible for the firebombing,” Molinelli said.

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He added that his office thinks the man may not have been acting alone.

The man is thought to live in the Bergen County or greater North Jersey area, but law enforcement officials have not been able to identify him, Molinelli said.

“We have done everything we can to try to identify him, but we have been unable to do so we are going public with it,” Molinelli said.

The video, from Jan. 9 surveillance footage, shows a fair-skinned man apparently between 18 and 30 years old, leaving what appears to be a Wal-Mart store with a camouflage backpack and a plastic shopping bag. The man, who is about 5 feet 10 inches tall to 6 feet 1-inch tall, has a thin to medium build and is wearing a red and black warm-up suit and a red skull cap. He also has sparse facial hair along his jaw line.

The man was also seen riding a bicycle, according to a press release.

Law enforcement officials are asking anyone with information that could lead to identification of the man to call a hotline at 201-226-5532 , email [email protected] or send a text message to 551-265-5651 .

Authorities have also asked anyone who sees a man matching the suspect’s description not to approach him, but to contact local police, stop a law enforcement officer or call 911.

Rabbi Nossom Schuman, interviewed shortly before 1 p.m. at his Rutherford home, said he had been shown the video twice, but “I didn’t recognize him.”

When asked whether he had turned over incendiary devices to investigators that might have had serial numbers on them, he responded that investigators themselves had collected everything from the scene.

As he spoke, Nossom was rushing off to a destination he declined to explain.

The synagogue firebombing was the most aggressive of a series of bias crimes against area synagogues in Paramus, Hackensack and Maywood in recent weeks.

READ MORE: BERGEN RECORD



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